TDG News 9-11-07
Drakes—well school is back in session, fall is already upon us, and at trimester schools, we are looking at the first
round of mid-terms. Best time of the year for some I guess J. Sorry I have been delinquent on the news, but here it is
and I will try to get on a weekly schedule from here on out. It is hard to believe that it is six years since that terrible
day we now call 9/11. Take a moment to remember all who lost their lives and loved ones on that day.
The new Exec Committee is having its first conference call on Friday, so I will report news from that next week. For
members of the EC I will have an agenda and calling instructions out to you on Thursday or Friday morning at the
latest. Please send me any agenda items you may have. For everyone else—keep spreading the word and recruit
new members!! More news to follow
Enjoy the reading and keep up the fight!!
Dave
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Sports Spending Priorities Challenged
Barry Jacobs, WRAL.com, August 2007
William Friday is working back to ambulatory status following knee surgery that nearly coincided with his 87th
birthday last month. But wear and tear has dulled neither his interest in promoting restraint in funding college
athletics, nor his outrage when new borders of excess are crossed.
It’s tempting to shrug and move on, recognizing business-as-usual as the merger tightens between college athletics,
the entertainment industry, and government. Fortunately, Friday and others outside the athletic mainstream have
not succumbed to such cynical acceptance.
Friday, president emeritus of the University of North Carolina system, had barely returned from the hospital to his
Chapel Hill home before learning Rep. Charlie Dannelly of Mecklenburg County had inserted into the recently
adopted state budget a half-million dollar subsidy for athletic scholarships to 10 historically black universities. The
bill included minimal academic requirements.
This on top of, or in reaction to, the $8 million in taxpayer funds spent this year alone to subsidize out-of-state
athletes at in-state rates for the benefit of sports programs at higher-profile North Carolina universities. That
escalating sum derives from a 2005 bill for “nonresident scholarships,” with less than a third of the funding going to
support academic scholarships.
Portrayed as a tool for attracting budding scholars, this legislative legerdemain neatly reduced fundraising pressure
on booster clubs and athletics departments that proudly – and falsely – boast they do not require public funding.
“There’s got to be some sense of order about our spending on athletics in North Carolina,” Friday said. “I don’t want
to be a prophet of doom, because I’ve been an optimistic person all my life, but I don’t think we’re facing reality here.”
That reality, Friday said, included nascent plans to spend approximately $100 million on expanding Kenan Stadium
at the University of North Carolina. The former 30-year president of the UNC system objected to the Kenan
expansion on fiscal and, if you will, moral grounds.
Friday cited a recent report that fewer than 10 percent of athletic programs break even financially in the so-called
Football Bowl Subdivision. Yet that barely slows the train as more schools incur massive debt, and seek ever more
problematic revenue streams, in order to muscle to the top of the competitive heap.
“It’s the power of money, and it’s the insatiable appetite: this isn’t enough, let’s do more,” Friday said. Referring to
ACC expansion, he added, “What you’re seeing here with the stadium is the natural evolution of that merger. You’ve
got to keep up with Clemson and Florida State.” Not to mention Virginia Tech and Miami, the latter school where
UNC coach Butch Davis earned his coaching stripes.
Friday also lamented the possibility that an expanded Kenan Stadium would be an enclosed bowl, eliminating the
open end where the fieldhouse currently sits amidst a grove of trees. The Tar Heel football media guide calls Kenan
“one of the most scenic athletic venues in America” due largely to “its majestic setting among the Carolina pines.”
Chances are, that boast will require rewriting.
Over the years Kenan family sources have contributed $100 million to UNC, including the funds to build the football
stadium in 1927, and to support subsequent expansions. Given that largesse, Friday voiced a sense of betrayal, of
trust broken, should new plans obliterate the facility’s original design and purpose as a memorial to William Rand
Kenan’s parents. “If they tear it down, it will be the last part of his plan to go,” Friday said of Kenan Fieldhouse. “I
wish that they would remember what his wishes were somewhere along the line.”
Lissa Broome, chair of Carolina’s Faculty Athletics Committee, said discussions of stadium expansion are so
preliminary she had not studied the issues “in great detail at this point.” But she saw more gray areas than did
Friday in the ever-increasing demand for funds and facilities to support big-time athletics.
“It’s a tough issue. You have to be fiscally conservative and still go forward, and sometimes you have to spend
money to make money,” said Broome, Wachovia Professor of Banking Law and director of the school’s Center for
Banking and Finance. “The world moves on and changes, and we don’t need to be stuck in the mud just because
we did it that way 30 years ago.”
Retired Tar Heel basketball coach Dean Smith was fond of noting that new arenas, and the attendant rise in
expectations, often resulted in the firing of perfectly capable coaches. Broome conceded similar risk in lavish Kenan
Stadium expansion, pointing out “you add pressure to win and keep people in the seats when you’ve got something
like that to pay for.”
Broome hastened to note that the so-called arms race in collegiate athletics is mirrored by similar competitive races
“on other parts of the campus.” Certainly the desire to keep up with Duke and N.C. State in attracting research
funds is a key motivating factor in UNC’s quest to build Carolina North, a research and teaching campus planned for
a site in northcentral Chapel Hill.
Point taken. But, to restate in contemporary terms a concern almost as old as college sports, where does the
athletic arms race end when members of the University of North Carolina system such as Winston-Salem State and
N.C. Central rush head-long to embrace high-profile athletics, and news of upgraded athletic facilities is almost
constant at the state’s ACC schools?
“Good question,” Broome said. “In our whole society, our expectations keep going up on everything.”
At least, Broome noted with a pride common within the circles of big-time sports, no state monies go to supporting
college athletic enterprises.
This will come as news to Pricey Harrison, a representative from Guilford County who co-sponsored legislation with
Onslow’s George Cleveland to repeal what she called “the Ram’s Club subsidy” for out-of-state athletes. “I don’t see
how you could justify the taxpayers subsidizing the booster clubs at these institutions,” Harrison said, mentioning
UNC, N.C. State, and East Carolina in particular. “It bugs me no end. There are so many other priorities in the state,
I can’t justify it.”
So, Harrison and Cleveland forced a vote on their bill in late July, breaking Democratic party discipline to do so.
(Harrison, a second-term member, “was a little bit chastised” for her effrontery, she said, and felt properly abashed.)
But the upstart legislators succeeded; their effort to repeal subsidized athletic scholarships for nonresident students
passed the House on a 93-13 vote. The measure now sits in the state senate, where it may never see the light of
day.
The recent round of scholarship aid is the tip of a taypayer-funded iceberg. Public support for college sports already
includes direct appropriations to construct arenas, subsidies for grounds and building maintenance, incentives to
secure tournaments, providing infrastructure such as roads to service facilities, and making up for income tax
deductions claimed by booster contributions dubiously related to educational purposes.
“It’s a question of where your priorities are,” Friday said. “That’s the ultimate issue that we have to be accountable
for.”
NCAA Taking Academic Reform Seriously
Tom Coyne, Associated Press, 20 August 2007
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - University presidents will show how serious they are about academic reform when they decide
whether the NCAA should continue to sanction schools that don't meet classroom performance standards, NCAA
President Myles Brand said Monday.
For the first time last May the governing body issued warning letters to schools based on academic performance.
According to Brand, more schools could face warning letters and sanctions this spring if university presidents remain
committed to reform.
"Will the presidents be able to stay strong?" Brand said in a speech to faculty members and athletic staff at Notre
Dame. "I should tell you that in the past, most academic reform efforts at the NCAA have failed. The fact of the
matter is, if the basketball coaches resist these changes they're not acting irrationally, because in the past they
were able to successfully resist changes."
Brand cited basketball coaches specifically because the sport's Division I men's programs had the worst academic
performance on the Academic Progress Rate, which measures eligibility and retention of student athletes for every
program at every Division I school.
Brand said about 45 percent of Division I schools that have men's basketball teams are in danger of scoring below
925 on the APR _ the equivalent of a 60 percent graduation rate under the NCAA's formula _ and could receive
warning letters.
Schools receiving warning letters could face harsher sanctions in upcoming years. A second offense would result in
a reduction of practice time or games played. A third offense would result in disqualification from NCAA tournaments.
Brand said the goal isn't to punish schools, it's to change their behavior.
Brand said after his speech that the presidents could be pressured by coaches, university boards, fans and the
media to water down the rules. He said some people simply say: "We don't care how they do academically."
Saying he's a "pathological optimist," though, Brand said he believes the school presidents will continue to support
academic reform.
Brand also talked about his concerns that athletic department spending is getting out of control. He said in the past
decade budgets at Division I schools have increased on average 3 percent to 4 percent while athletic department
budgets at those schools have increased on average 8 percent to 12 percent. Only six Division I athletic
departments have shown a profit during the past six years, Brand said.
"Is that bad? Not necessarily. There are lots of activities in the university that we subsidize," he said. "I spent 40
years as a philosophy professor and I very much doubt the philosophy department ever brought in money over their
expenditure rate."
The concern, he said, is how much colleges subsidize and the growing disparity between the haves and the have-
nots _ even among the biggest schools. Brand said the NCAA can't limit how much schools can spend on athletics,
but it has set up standard accounting procedures and is encouraging schools to share information and to be fiscally
responsible.
"There's a certain level of individual responsibility," he said. "You can't regulate everything about intercollegiate
athletics or about life, you know that. I don't think regulation is always the answer. Sometimes it's not a very good
answer, even if it is possible."
Growing number of student-athletes return to complete degrees
Elizabeth Omara-Otunnu & Kenneth Best, UConn Advance, 31 August 2007
Former men’s basketball player Hilton Armstrong was back on campus this summer – not on the court, but in the
classroom.
Armstrong, who left the University in 2006 to enter the NBA, took two courses and hopes to take one more next
summer to earn the remaining credits to qualify for a degree in political science.
He is one of a growing group of former student-athletes who return to the University to complete their degree with
the support of the Division of Athletics.
Earlier this year, UConn was recognized for the second consecutive year by the National Consortium for Academics
and Sports for the success of its degree completion program.
“The primary mission of UConn’s Division of Athletics is for our student-athletes to earn their undergraduate
degree,” says Jeff Hathaway, director of athletics.
Bruce Cohen, director of the University’s Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes, says the program is
expanding each year, as former student-athletes learn about the opportunity to complete their degree.
“When we started the program, we called those who didn’t complete their degree a long time ago and encouraged
them to come back,” he says.
“Now it’s building a life of its own. The students are coming to us wanting to finish.”
Among those who completed their UConn degrees in 2006 are baseball’s Jeff Hourigan; Kevin Freeman and
Rashamel Jones of men’s basketball; Roy Hopkins and Tavaar Closs of football; Shannon Connolly of women’s ice
hockey; Cassie Novak of women’s swimming and diving; and April Garner of women’s track and field.
For undergraduates participating in NCAA sports, the schedule can be grueling.
They must maintain full-time student status by taking 12 credits a semester, and although practice time is limited by
the NCAA to 20 hours a week, that doesn’t include travel time and games.
Armstrong says being both a student and an athlete is demanding.
“You practice in the morning, go back and get ready for class, and sometimes you go back and practice again later,”
he says.
“There’s barely time to relax. It takes a toll, both physically and mentally.”
He says he took a few days off from his studies in 2004 after the team won the national championship, but he had to
make up for it the next week.
“I had to put my face in my books and study 24/7 to catch up,” he says.
Cohen says the student-athletes who need the most guidance are those on teams that either compete both
semesters – basketball and swimming, for example – or travel extensively, such as baseball and softball.
He says UConn’s student-athlete graduation rates are comparable to those of the general student population –
about 70 percent.
“The primary reason student-athletes leave before graduating is for professional sports opportunities,” says Cohen.
“Others transfer because perhaps they didn’t get as much playing time as they wanted, or they leave because of
personal issues, such as taking care of a family member.”
Although NCAA players’ eligibility is limited to four years, their scholarships are available for five years.
Some UConn student-athletes, such as former basketball player Shamon Tooles, take advantage of the extra year,
says Ted Taigen, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and CPIA’s academic advisor to the men’
s basketball team.
Cohen says his staff encourage student-athletes not to leave the University early, “but when there’s a good reason
for doing so, we make it very clear the doors are open for them to return and make sure they’re in a position where
they can step back into the degree program.”
For those who left many years ago, the adjustment can be considerable. Degree requirements and curriculum have
changed, and former players may feel disconnected after being away.
The task may appear daunting, says Taigen, “but I am a relentless cheerleader for them to come back and finish the
job. I bug them, tell them they can do it.”
Although those who pursue a professional career in sports may be financially secure, there are other reasons for
athletes to complete their degree.
“Many student-athletes are first-generation college students,” says Cohen.
“It may be very important to the family or for their personal self-esteem to have a college degree and not be marked
as a stereotypical student-athlete who goes to college just to play sports.”
Says Taigen, “One of the things I tell the guys all the time is that when they finish their degree, it makes a statement
about them, not just for themselves, for their families. It’s a statement to their parents, and a statement to their
children. It changes the landscape for their children to include education.”
Armstrong says his mother urged him to complete his degree.
“I didn’t argue,” he says. “I’ll feel more comfortable for myself. Not too many people leave and then finish their
degree.”
He says when he retires from the NBA, he hopes to work with kids. “I’d like to start some kind of program to help
inner city youth,” he says.
He believes having a degree will earn him respect.
Taigen says a number of basketball players who returned and graduated are now in jobs that require a degree.
Rashamel Jones ’06, for example, is a caseworker for the Department of Children and Families.
Brian Fair, a student-athlete from 1991 to 1995, went on to earn a master’s degree and is now an educational
administrator in Phoenix, Ariz., and is studying for a doctoral degree.
Cohen notes that many professional athletes’ careers are over by the time they are 30. They need other interests
and skills for the rest of their life, he says.
“You need an education to be a well rounded human being.”
SEC academic policies setting new benchmark
Ray Melick, Birmingham News, 30 August 2007
South Carolina will take the field against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday without starting quarterback Blake
Mitchell, suspended for academic reasons.
Auburn could begin its season without starting tailback Brad Lester, who is reportedly working through academic
issues of his own.
They are hardly alone. While few coaches will reveal their reasons for keeping players out of games, this first week
of games will go on with a number of players held out of action.
And the one calling the shots on such suspensions may not be the coaches. The athletic departments in the
Southeastern Conference are taking such decisions away from the head coach in favor of a written, across-the-
board policy for all athletes.
At the annual spring meetings in Destin, SEC presidents and athletics directors approved a measure requiring every
athletic department to have a class-attendance policy, and to have that policy filed with the league office by Oct. 1.
Each school has to spell out minimal standards of attendance for its athletes, how they plan to monitor compliance
to those standards, and what the penalties are for failure to meet those minimal standards.
Many schools already have policies in place, and have for years. But being the ultra-competitive league that the
SEC is, the ones that did have such policies wanted to make sure they were competing on equal footing with
everyone else by making sure every SEC school had written out requirements and consequences.
The standards are not the same at every school. The SEC leaves attendance guidelines up to each institution. The
NCAA doesn't have a class-attendance policy, because the NCAA does not have control over classroom policies of
individual professors. Instead, the NCAA counts on whatever policy a school has to be applied equally to athletes as
well as non-athletes.
The move by the SEC to codify this one aspect of student-athlete behavior seems to be part of a slow but growing
trend toward athletic departments taking disciplinary decisions away from individual coaches in favor of department-
wide philosophies that spell out the penalties for various violations of conduct.
Obviously, there are coaches that don't like it, while others recognize that such policies remove any suspicion of
coaches showing favoritism toward one athlete over another. The simple fact is that coaches can't be trusted to
establish and enforce academic standards:
According to research done by Rivals.com, there are 45 players that signed football scholarship offers from SEC
schools last February that did not report to class this fall, more than twice as many as any other BCS conference.
The Big 12 lost 23 from the players signed by its 12 schools; the Pac 10 lost 21, and the ACC lost 18.
The Big Ten, where Commissioner Jim Delany suggested last spring that the SEC didn't have the appropriate
balance in mixing academics and athletics, lost only four recruits (two from Illinois, and one each from Michigan State
and Purdue).
While it would be nice if all head coaches could be trusted to make academic standing a priority, given the number
of athletes who were signed to scholarships but failed to meet minimal academic standards reminds us that coaches
are fired not for failing to graduate players, but for failing to win games.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
As long as school administrators remember the responsibility for educating these athletes belongs to them.
Vandy plots a different course
University eliminated athletics department to streamline costs
Jeff Faraudo, Contra Costa Times, 29 August 2007
While most of college footall continues to flex its fiscal muscles, not every school in the country is willing to bulk up
its sporting economy.
Vanderbilt University, whose rivals in the Southeastern Conference include Alabama and its new $32 million coach
Nick Saban, takes a radical approach to intercollegiate athletics.
Four years ago, then university chancellor Gordon Gee eliminated the Commodores' athletic department, putting
sports under the supervision of a vice chancellor.
The idea was to streamline costs and integrate athletics more into the mainstream of campus activity.
"I think it's unique to them," said Washington athletic director Todd Turner, who held the same position at Vanderbilt
until it was erased. Four years later, Turner admits, "Competitively, they've done pretty well."
Vandy's baseball team was ranked No.1 in the nation for much of last season, and its basketball team reached the
third round of the NCAA tournament. At the same time, Jeff Ulmer, executive director for the National Commodore
Club, noted that Vanderbilt athletes compiled a combined 3.0 grade-point average last year.
But the football team, 4-7 a year ago, has lost 19 straight games to Alabama, and it seems unlikely the gap will close
now that the Crimson Tide has opened its checkbook to Saban.
"It does make you sort of step back and look at the direction major college athletics is taking," Ulmer said. "We can't
even fathom going there."
A key to Vanderbilt's success is developing young coaches and securing them with long-term deals, Turner said.
Football coach Bobby Johnson works under a 10-year contract that pays him an estimated $750,000 per season.
But Turner also doesn't believe Vanderbilt's model can work for most Division I athletic departments. Even Gee, who
implemented the plan, has said he envisions no such changes in his new position as president of Ohio State, which
pays him an annual base salary of $775,000.
In fact, Turner maintains it's only a handful of schools that actually pay mega-salaries.
"I think the college coaching universe that can compete with the NFL private-industry element is so small," he said.
"There are those that feel they need to do that. The athletic enterprises on their campuses are so big they want to
sustain them. To them, it becomes a good business decision.
"At the end of the day, particularly on a public university campus, there will be decisions made about what's
appropriate to your campus. If it gets any further out of balance, economically it just won't make sense to some
folks."
Purchasing a degree just isn't academic
Eugene Register Guard, 25 August 2007
The Web site is visually appealing. Its offering, at www.trinityeducation.com, is very enticing.
For $240, you can - cough - earn a degree "in any subject, except medicine," based on your life experience. For
$50 more, they'll super-size it, adding honors.
Registered in Delaware and based in Spain, The Trinity College and University features an educational
"programme" that is diverse, almost free - and apparently, very easy.
We found the decision not to award medical degrees reassuring. But when he surfed over there the other day, Pat
Kilkenny found the whole thing "troubling."
This is what's known as a diploma mill. This is Dave Serrano's alma mater.
This is why Serrano will not become baseball coach at Oregon.
No one will say so. But no one needs to since Serrano, the highly successful coach at UC Irvine, has withdrawn his
candidacy.
He cited family reasons for staying put, which is fine. And perhaps even true. But eventually, Serrano's "unusual
degree," as Kilkenny puts it, would have ended his chances.
And if nothing else, the almost-controversy should kickstart debate over the value of a degree.
($240? Really?)
Kilkenny doesn't have one. Oregon waived that requirement to make him athletic director.
And when you get right down to it, that's why there was no way the Ducks could have hired Baseball America's
national coach of the year.
"I have to be held to a higher standard," Kilkenny says, referring to the hires he makes.
They tried hard to hire Serrano. Kilkenny consulted three faculty members. They signed off on Serrano's academic
credentials after considering the diploma with the rest of his educational background - he has plenty of credit hours
at three schools - and positive reviews from current and former employers.
"He's one of those coaches," says Paula Smith, UC Irvine's interim athletic director, "who takes the academic side
very seriously."
Look, I can understand why Serrano did it. Those ads used to tempt me, too.
After a vagabond's journey through four colleges, I didn't have a degree when I started working full-time 17 years
ago. And for many years, I didn't think I'd earn one. Hence the furtive glances toward diploma mills like Trinity.
Eventually, I enrolled in a fifth school (Oklahoma) and finished up. Maybe by then, you could have argued, it didn't
matter so much. A sheet of paper didn't change the quality of my work (Editor's note: insert laugh track here).
A degree - a real one - was a requirement for this job. And for an earlier opportunity. An editor suggested it was a
prerequisite to cover higher education.
How much more important should it be for someone working in higher education, rather than alongside it?
In case you're wondering, Kilkenny says he never considered a diploma mill. He regrets not graduating, and is
"sensitive" to the criticism that has come since he took the UO job without one.
When Kilkenny was hired, Mike Bellotti tried to talk him into taking classes. Kilkenny's reply: "You need to try to
explain to me when I'm going to have time to do anything."
Considering he built a fortune of more than $100 million, it's hard to argue. "As it turns out, I'm blessed," Kilkenny
says. "It never became an impediment to my career."
For Serrano and Oregon, this would have been.
To his credit, Serrano hasn't run from the issue. Way back when, he started coaching without a degree but with
good intentions. He took classes along the way.
But life interrupted.
"I'm not going to point the finger at anyone," he says. "It's my own fault I don't have a traditional degree. It's my own
fault, I was lazy. ... I'm not embarrassed by it."
Which is fine. But Oregon would have been.
Not all college education is in the classroom
Ray Melick, Birmingham News, 25 August 2007
There is at least one aspect of this Hoover High School investigation that does not seem in doubt: At least one
grade was changed, and that grade change enabled a football player to become eligible to play at the college level.
Josh Chapman apparently missed being eligible under NCAA minimum standards by the narrowest of margins.
Unfortunately for Chapman and Alabama, being "barely" ineligible is kind of like being pregnant: Either you are or
you aren't. And Chapman, according to the correct transcript, wasn't.
That's the problem with having standards. The NCAA has a minimum standard that is supposed to draw the line that
determines whether an athlete has a reasonable chance to do the work necessary to get a college degree.
But like most such standards, the numbers are arbitrary. I've known athletes who graduated near the top of their
high school class who struggled in college, and others who were accepted as "special admissions" - in the days
when schools could take one or two athletes who didn't meet minimum standards - who wound up becoming
outstanding students. It often depends on what they go to college for.
I do not know Chapman, so I can't speak to his motivation for attending college. But I have met many athletes whose
primary interest in attending college was to get an education not in the classroom but in football or basketball.
These athletes' ambition was to play sports at the highest level for as long as possible.
Is that really so wrong? No less than Princeton Athletics Director Gary Walters made the argument last spring that
participation in athletics should be given the same status as playing in the band, or performing drama, or getting a
degree in art - all endeavors in which students can take classes and get academic credit. Shouldn't football players,
Walters seems to suggest, get some kind of academic credit for playing football?
Walters quoted Jon Veach, a starting tailback on the Princeton football team who wrote a paper that said: "The
reason athletes put so much time and dedication into athletics is because the athletes do not view varsity athletics
as simply an extracurricular activity but rather a vital part of their life and an intense learning experience. I have
been an athlete since I was eight years old, and I can honestly say that the summation of my athletic experiences to
this point has prepared me for the hard times of my life better than any other experience. Varsity athletics are
imbedded with an abundant number of life lessons, values, and striking comparisons to the real world. I believe so
strongly in these values that I feel varsity athletes should be given some type of academic credit for the countless
hours of training and learning."
Of course, playing at Princeton is a far cry from playing at Auburn or Alabama. And the potential for abuse in
rewarding academic credit for athletics - or even the idea of creating majors based on athletic participation - gives
academicians the willies.
But if playing football is why some kids go to college, and the ability to play football is the primary reason many
colleges award scholarships (and accept minimum academic standards in return), then is Walters' idea really so far
off base?
NCAA: Powe ineligible
Academics sideline defender; Ole Miss files quick appeal
Scott Cacciola, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 29 August 2007
OXFORD, Miss. -- Hours after the NCAA announced on Tuesday morning that Jerrell Powe will not be eligible to play
football at Ole Miss this season, the university filed appeals with the NCAA on Powe's behalf.
The NCAA ruled that Powe, a top-rated defensive tackle from Waynesboro, Miss., whose lengthy struggle to gain
academic clearance from the NCAA has drawn national attention, cannot play for the Rebels this season, though he
can keep his athletic scholarship and attend classes. If he fulfills certain academic requirements, he will be allowed
to play next season -- a full three years after he last appeared in a game as a senior at Wayne County (Miss.) High
School.
"The idea for determining if student-athletes are academically eligible to participate in college sports is to ensure
that the rigors of practice and competition do not interfere with the primary reason student-athletes enroll in college
-- to get an education," said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president of membership services. "Mr. Powe has not
achieved sufficient academic success under NCAA rules to permit athletics participation."
Joe Barnett, a close family friend who has become a surrogate father of sorts, said he was "bitterly disappointed" by
the decision. Powe had already twice been denied academic eligibility by the NCAA, first in 2005 and again last year.
Since then, Barnett said, Powe had followed a well-scripted plan designed by the NCAA to secure eligibility.
"He did everything he was supposed to do and none of the things he was not supposed to do," Barnett said. "And
now it appears that's been disregarded."
Starting in November, Powe re-enrolled in seven core courses at Wayne County (Miss.) High School and through
Penn Foster Career School, a Pennsylvania-based correspondence school. He also was diagnosed with a form of
dyslexia and moderate attention deficit disorder. Don Jackson, Powe's attorney, and Barnett have said that they felt
his case was bolstered through the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of
disability in programs and services provided by state and local governments.
In the wake of the NCAA's announcement, Jackson said there exists the "strong possibility" that ADA officials could
get involved. He also said he has no reservations about pursuing the matter in court, though he intends to let the
appeals process play out. According to NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn, if Ole Miss files its appeals by
Thursday, the NCAA will make a ruling next week. Ole Miss opens its season at Memphis on Saturday.
According to a statement e-mailed to reporters by the NCAA, the organization "expressed concern that Mr. Powe
completed a significant amount of coursework in an unusually limited amount of time -- much shorter than the
average time it takes students to complete similar courses. This determination led the staff to invalidate a portion of
Mr. Powe's academic high records provided to the NCAA."
The NCAA did, however, approve an initial eligibility waiver for Powe, which means he can receive athletically related
financial aid to attend classes. But he will remain ineligible to practice and play in games until meeting NCAA and
institutional requirements in college, such as completing 24 semester hours of academic credit. At the earliest, Powe
could play for the Rebels next fall.
In a statement released by Ole Miss, athletic director Pete Boone said the university will appeal rulings by the NCAA
that invalidate Powe's high school coursework and prevent him from playing this season. The appeals will be
reviewed by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Waiver Learning Disability Subcommittee and by the NCAA Student Records
Review Committee.
"We think it's important for Jerrell to be a part of our team," Boone said. "In our experience, the support that Jerrell
would receive from teammates and coaches would help him succeed in the classroom."
Powe had been practicing -- primarily with the first-team defense -- since Aug. 9, when Ole Miss granted him
provisional admission pending the NCAA's decision.
Barnett said Powe is enrolled in four classes this semester, including a course in mathematics and another in
theater.
Coach Ed Orgeron, who said he was "saddened" when he heard the news, met with Powe on Tuesday. Orgeron
said he remains convinced that Powe will play for Ole Miss someday.
"It was a big blow to him," Orgeron said. "But I think after our talk, he walked out with his head up and he was able to
see some things. He will continue to be at Ole Miss, and he will continue to be a part of our football team. Eventually,
everything's going to work out for him."
Jackson said he has little faith in the NCAA appeals process and said the matter is "inching dangerously close" to
winding up in court. He had strong words for the NCAA.
"At the core level," Jackson said, "the NCAA's actions in this case and in all of these 'diploma mill' cases
demonstrate an institutional belief that African-American prospective student-athletes are incapable of improving
themselves academically. That's what this is all about. And at the very core, that's racist as hell, because inherent in
that is the belief that these young men who are struggling academically cannot improve themselves. And there is a
belief that if you did improve, you either cheated or cut corners to get there."
Informed of Jackson's comments, Osburn said: "The fact of the matter is, it's a decision about one student-athlete
and his academic record, and at the end of the day he's able to go to school and get an education on scholarship.
The only thing that's being asked of him is to demonstrate that he's able to meet the time demands of college before
he plays football."
Thrust into the spotlight
More high school football games are being televised nationally. But are the players ready for the
attention?
Joey Knight, St. Petersburg Times, 28 August 2007
TAMPA -- He realizes his opinion may be as outdated as game film on videocassette, but that's the purist in Billy
Turner.
The venerable Chamberlain High football coach, on the cusp of iconic and septuagenarian status, has watched his
sport evolve from small time to prime time.
Perhaps he was being naive, but he never believed the figurative grass roots in which prep football had always been
played would some day bear tire tracks - of TV trucks.
"A lot of young coaches are going to think I'm out of touch and that maybe I should just hang it up and get out of the
way. But I see high school football as ... it's amateur football," Turner said.
"I know it makes money, but I'd like to see it stay pure and stay amateur, and when you start televising high school
games live locally and all over the country, I don't see the purpose of it. ... Maybe that's the way it's going to
become."
To the chagrin of Turner and fellow purists everywhere, that's the way it has become.
For the second year in a row, ESPN's smorgasbord of networks is broadcasting prep football games 14 this year as
part of its ESPNU High School Showcase.
Fox Sports Net has a 10-game national broadcast package, in addition to more than 100 set to be telecast on one
of its 19 regional networks. The past two years, MTV's Two-a-Daysdocumented the season of Alabama prep
juggernaut Hoover High.
"We're very excited about the ratings we get across the board on the various networks," said James Brown, ESPN's
senior vice president of new programming development.
Elsewhere, the literary phenomenon that was Friday Night Lights, depicting the football factory at Odessa (Texas)
Permian High, spawned a 2004 feature film and television show that drew 5.7-million viewers last season, according
to the Nielsen Media Research Web site.
Locally, 24-hour regional sports network Catch 47, which has broadcast an area prep football game of the week on
a tape-delay basis in recent years, is broadcasting them live this season. Elliott Wiser, vice president of local
programming for Bright House Networks, which owns the channel, said the advertising spots for more than half the
games have sold out.
"It's huge," Wiser said.
But is it healthy?
This is the question that counterbalances the thrill of seeing a fleet of production trucks overtake your local student
parking lot. Dr. Richard Ginsburg, a clinical psychologist and sport psychology consultant at Massachusetts General
Hospital, is among those raising it.
"I have a similar kind of feeling about the Little League World Series and the kind of press it gets, whether it's a
good thing for kids," Ginsburg said. "There is something to not being ready for prime time."
But ready or not, prime time has been thrust upon the prep landscape. Wiser, creator of Catch 47, says for all the
logistical legwork prep football game coverage demands, its popularity likely will keep growing among regional and
cable networks.
Coaches like exposure
Many coaches hope the exposure only increases, if for no other reason than the opportunity it affords their players
to get noticed by a college coach.
Armwood coach Sean Callahan said that one hour after his team defeated Jefferson on a game televised nationally
by ESPNU last season, a scout from Middle Tennessee called to offer a scholarship to Hawks speedster Deondre
Kyles, who returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
"We have nothing but positive things to say about (the broadcast)," Callahan said. "Our goal is, we want to play out
of state, we want to play at a national level. As far as exposure goes, the way I do things and mainstream everything,
it's a positive for us. Could there be some negative things? Sure there could."
Among the potential negatives is what Ginsburg calls "professionalizing" high school sports.
"I hate to see high school football become a commercial thing, where the next thing you know high school kids are
doing a commercial, high school coaches are getting an endorsement," Turner said. "Maybe that's the future."
Ginsburg, co-author of Whose Game Is It Anyway? A Guide to Helping Your Child Get the Most from Sports,
Organized by Age and Stage, asks whether kids' talents are being showcased for colleges or their failures exploited
for the sake of entertainment.
Perhaps adding validity to his concerns is what has occurred at Hoover in the wake of MTV's convergence on the
program.
Alex Binder, among the featured Hoover players, was arrested after his senior year for breaking and entering.
Former principal Richard Bishop was fired amid accusations he changed football players' grades.
"MTV looks for the trash and the garbage and tries to create the negative," former Hoover athletic director Jerry
Browning told the News Star of Monroe, La.
Former North Penn (Pa.) High coach Mike Pettine's experience with high-profile documentaries was far more positive.
Pettine, now outside linebackers coach of the Baltimore Ravens, allowed ESPN to chronicle his North Penn team's
1999 campaign for a series titled The Season.
While Pettine said some in the community unfamiliar with the intense grind and oft-profane coaching vernacular of
Pennsylvania prep football were "taken aback" by the series, the response from those familiar with the sport and
even outside the area was positive.
"I think a lot of it is, what's the agenda of the people that are filming it," said Pettine, whose team finished 11-2. "Is it
just reality? As you know, reality shows can be steered in a lot of different directions. I enjoyed it, but at the same
time, we were at their mercy."
Emphasizing the good
Brown says ESPN's intentions are noble, saying his network's broadcasts of prep football resembles its Little League
World Series coverage in terms of emphasizing the feats and feel-good stories and de-emphasizing the miscues.
Callahan corroborates, pointing out that ESPNU did a brief segment on Hawks cornerback Aubrey Hadley, who lost
an arm at age 2, during its game broadcast.
Yet the concerns linger. For instance, what about the 15-year-old who fumbles at the goal line on live TV?
"As a kid, something like that happens to them and that defines them; there's the potential to be scarred," Pettine
said. "When it was all said and done, we took the potential good with the bad and the athletes understood that
stepping out there subjects them to both sides of it."
But what about other fears? Will some coaches curb the rules to generate TV exposure for their program? And does
a perennially weak program ever have the chance of being on a broadcast?
All questions that likely will be answered in time.
Prime time.
Simpson suit reinstated: Court of Appeals cites evidence CU had policy of showing recruits a 'good time'
Brittany Anas, Boulder Daily Camera, 7 September 2007
Concluding there is enough evidence that the University of Colorado "had an official policy of showing high school
football recruits a 'good time,'" a federal appeals court Thursday reinstated a Title IX lawsuit filed by two former
students.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit overturned the March 2005 decision by federal district court Judge
Robert Blackburn to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore. The women claim the school
fostered an environment that led to their rapes by athletes at an off-campus party in December 2001.
The circuit judges, in their ruling, said they agreed there is enough evidence that the university failed to provide
adequate supervision to recruits.
Tenth Circuit Judge Harris Hartz wrote that there is evidence CU coaches who knew about sexual-harassment
accusations against players did nothing to curb it and rather seemed to encourage the misconduct. Showing recruits
a "good time" included setting up sex for them, according to the plaintiffs.
Simpson's attorney Baine Kerr said he was "elated" about Thursday's decision and called the opinion "historic."
"This will change the way big college sports are run across the country," he said. "They can no longer turn a blind
eye to obvious risks in how they run their programs."
Denver defense attorney Larry Pozner, who has represented CU in the case, said the appeals court's rulingasks
that universities do something "impossible" and monitor students' every action.
"The court seems to announce a new legal standard that takes all American universities into uncharted waters,"
Pozner said.
CU officials say the university has become a national leader in policies and practices to prevent sexual assault and
harassment.
"The university does not have a policy that would place any of its female students at risk of assault; in fact, it has
stringent policies prohibiting sexual harassment and sexual assault," CU said in a statement.
In 2005, Blackburn ruled that the two women suing the university failed to meet key standards in their Title IX lawsuit.
The federal legislation, adopted in 1972, prohibits sex discrimination in schools.
Simpson and her family were told of Thursday's ruling by a phone call from Kerr's partner Kim Hult.
"They are all just ecstatic," Kerr said.
Kerr said he would like to get a trial date before the end of the year, but CU has options — including asking the U.S.
Supreme Court to hear the case — that could extend that timeline considerably.
Kerr said allegations of sexual misconduct in the football program that came to light after the case was dismissed
were not needed to send the case back to district court — and that those will be fair game at trial.
Karen Steinhauser, adjunct professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, said the majority of cases
heard at the appellate level are affirmed, not overturned.
"The appellate process is stressful for all the parties involved because there's a sense of everyone wanting some
finality," Steinhauser said. "On the other hand, our system has a lot of checks and balances ... designed to ensure
when a decision is final that it's the right one."
The National Women's Law Center is part of the legal team representing Simpson.
"Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore described horrific sexual assaults that they suffered at the hands of football
recruits because of the University of Colorado's failure to protect them from sexual harassment," said Marcia D.
Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center. "As the 10th Circuit properly recognized, it is long
past time for these courageous young women to have their day in court and the opportunity to show the university's
responsibility for these assaults."
Janine D'Anniballe, executive director of Boulder-based Moving to End Sexual Assault, called the ruling "huge."
"It validates sex-assault survivors everywhere ... and shows that these cases, on a closer look, are going to be taken
seriously," she said. "Justice is possible."
The lawsuit touched off a football-recruiting scandal, leading to massive fallout among CU's top leaders and athletic
staff. The university president, Boulder campus chancellor, athletic director and football coach left their posts amid
the controversy.
Track and field coach James files lawsuit against UH
Mike Leidemann, Honolulu Advertiser, 7 September 2007
The University of Hawai'i "balanced the UH athletics budget on the back of women's athletics," the school's women's
track coach charged in a lawsuit filed in Circuit Court today.
Carmyn James, who coaches women in track and field, and cross country, said school administrators regularly short-
changed her program and continue to provide male student athletes with greater opportunities than females, a
violation of the federal Title IX regulations that guarantee women athletes equal opportunity.
The lawsuit also charges that UH athletic director Herman Frazier discriminated against James because she
advocated for gender equity. Frazier was traveling to the Mainland today and could not be reached for comment.
John McNamara, associate UH athletic director, said: "We have not received official notification about this
development. Therefore it would not be prudent to comment."
James, who has been a coach at UH since 2000, charged in the lawsuit that the university has a history of failing to
comply with laws and regulations requiring gender equity in its athletic programs and said the salary, terms and
conditions of her contract differ markedly from those of her male colleagues.
Since 2003, James said, her contract has been limited to one year, while similarly situated male coaches were given
longer, multi-year contracts with higher pay.
In July, the university Board of Regents approved a new salary range for James' position that would allow her to
earn between $53,000 and $83,496, which is similar to the new salary range for the men's tennis coach.
James' suit also charges that she has been given less staff and other support than male coaches and that the
department failed to include James in "important decision making that adversely affected her program."
A UH Web site credits James with reviving the women's track and field program after a 16-year hiatus and
overseeing a multi-million dollar resurfacing project for Cooke Field on the UH campus.
In addition to seeking unspecified economic and general damages, the lawsuit asks the court to ensure that the
terms of her employment at UH are free of discrimination.
The double standard of Meehan's snafu
Rufus Kinney, JSU Chanticleer, 6 September 2007
Three things bother me the most about Dr. Meehan's plagiarism. The first is that Dr. Meehan to my knowledge has
never admitted to personally having made a mistake and he certainly has never apologized to The JSU community
for his plagiarism. He had a perfect opportunity to do that during his annual address to the faculty on August 28, but
did not take advantage of it. It is one thing to say, "I take responsibility," and quite another to say, "I apologize for my
mistake." The latter would have been very much appreciated by many JSU students and faculty, including me.
A second thing that bothers me is the apparently widespread attitude that Dr. Meehan is somehow almost a hero in
all this, taking charge and appointing committees to see that the highest ethical standards for writing are always
followed, like the hero on the white horse riding in to save the day. But in fact it was Dr. Meehan's own mistakes that
created the problem in the first place! Speaking for the committee that whitewashed Dr. Meehan, Judge Sam Monk
said, unbelievably, "I do not see any evidence, or have not seen any, to indicate that Dr. Meehan was in any way
personally or individually responsible" (Jacksonville News, August 22). This from a judge? Isn't a judge, of all people,
most aware that plagiarism is illegal and that in cases like this the plagiarizing author will be held responsible and
can be sued for a lot of money? If you sign your name to a credit card application and don't bother to read the fine
print, aren't you still legally responsible for the exorbitan t interest rates? If you sign on to an adjustable-rate
mortgage without reading it carefully, aren't you still going to have to make all those outlandish payments or face
foreclosure? Dr. Meehan is indeed responsible, but is not being held responsible by the people who are
whitewashing him and making him out to be a hero.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the whitewashing of Dr. Meehan has created a double standard at JSU
whereby our students are held to one standard on plagiarism, a very high standard, and the President is essentially
held to none in the sense that he has not been censured or faced any remonstrations of any sort, but to the
contrary, has been widely praised and hardly criticized at all. Is this what we want for JSU? Students aren't going to
be happy about it and I don't blame them one bit. Are we not entering the Twilight Zone of Academe when we allow,
through our silence and passivity, a situation like this with hardly a murmur of protest? For doing exactly what Dr.
Meehan did (and he did it repeatedly), students will receive zeroes and flunk the course. Dr. Meehan would fail my
class with a low F. Students should know that they have the right to ask Dr. Meehan about his plagiarism and why
they are being held to a higher standard than he. The double standard is intolera ble, but passive old JSU will
probably tolerate it anyway. If this were the University of Montevallo the President would already be long gone.
We learned just yesterday that JSU has been rated in the third tier of Southern universities with Master's level
programs, well beneath Montevallo, which does not surprise me, but also beneath the University of North Alabama,
which both surprises and bothers me-you know, the school that won all the national titles at Division II in football,
titles JSU would have won if we hadn't moved to Division I-AA. Now they're ahead of us academically as well. How in
the world can we expect to move up to a higher tier with a President who is a plagiarist? It isn't going to happen, and
the degrees these students are working so hard and so honestly to earn will not be worth as much as they otherwise
would be. That's an unnecessary shame because at JSU students are supposed to come first, but, sadly, they don't.
It's rhetoric. And JSU should be bigger than any one person, even someone as nice and as genuinely charming as
Dr. Bill Meehan, but apparently it isn't.
10 years of growth and gripes at UGA
Despite tensions, Adams transforms state¹s flagship school
Rebecca Quigley, Athens Banner Herald, 2 September 2007
Michael Adams replaced Charles Knapp as president of the University of Georgia on the first day of September, 10
years ago, launching a decade of construction and academic advances punctuated by scandals and actions that
angered fans and alumni.
While many people always will associate Adams with his decision not to renew legendary football coach Vince
Dooley's contract as athletic director, the most visible legacy of Adams' tenure at UGA is the face of the historic
campus itself.
In the past 10 years, UGA turned roads and parking lots into green spaces while adding the $40 million Paul D.
Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, the $43 million Student Learning Center, the $79 million East
Campus Village, a new art school building and an expansion of the Tate Student Center.
The $40 million art school building is scheduled to open next fall, and the $52 million Tate expansion is scheduled to
open in 2009.
But criticism of Adams' CEO leadership style and scandals that even Adams admits he could have handled better
linger as he tries to move on and make UGA an international player in higher education and bio-medical research.
Building UGA
Shortly after stepping into office in 1997, Adams formed the UGA Real Estate Foundation as a speedy a way to
finance construction projects in order to get more buildings on the ground that would have taken years to wind
through state financing channels.
As the new president, Adams noticed that plans for the physical campus weren't keeping up with plans to improve
academics and other aspects of the university - "That's why we put the strategic plan early on," he said.
But Adams also concentrated on who has worked and studied inside those buildings, and what they did.
"I did say early on that I thought we needed, particularly from a research standpoint, to be a broader institution given
our bioscience strengths," he said. "We needed to go basically where the research money is."
Fundraising efforts have tripled the university's endowment to more than $500 million, allowing the university to
establish more professorships and scholarships and tap into more federal research grants, Adams said.
The University System Board of Regents has rewarded Adams by raising his base salary over the years from
$177,000 in 1997 to more than $242,000 in 2007. Adams also receives thousands of dollars each year in
supplements, allowances and other benefits, while faculty salaries for years have remained behind in the job market.
But while Adams concentrated on raising UGA's academic status, his relationship with Athens stagnated - especially
when he moved out of the President's House on Prince Avenue, community and civic leaders said.
"Initially, there was some concern about whether or not he could do this job" because he came from a small private
school, Centre College in the Bluegrass area of central Kentucky, said Gwen O'Looney, Athens-Clarke mayor from
1995 until 1999. "I think Adams has done his job."
County and university officials under Knapp never developed much of a relationship until the 1996 Summer
Olympics demanded coordinated planning, which set a precedent for more communication between the two entities.
"I don't think (Adams) has pushed to increase that cooperation," O'Looney said. "But it hasn't gone backwards."
Adams hired a local government relations liaison and staff from UGA and the county meet regularly about issues
that affect citizens both on and off campus.
"(But) every place I have ever been there has been some town-gown tension because the lifestyle of the 19-year-
old is often not the lifestyle of average citizen," Adams said.
Many of the university's top officials and all of the deans have stepped down, retired or resigned in the past 10
years, vacancies that Adams took advantage of to build a more diverse administration.
"I don't take personal credit for a lot, ... but I think I have been able to attract a lot of really smart people" who have
helped move his goals for the university forward, Adams said.
Ten years ago, none of the vice presidents, deans or other top administrators at UGA were black, and the black
student population was half what it is today.
"I think the last two or three years we have been further along that I might have predicted," Adams said, adding that
the university still needs to do more to enroll black and other minority students, especially by offering more financial
aid.
The Dooley flap
Adams gave Dooley a contract for an extra year but eventually decided to cut the cord with the revered Dooley in
June 2003, sparking a fervent reaction from Bulldog fans and leaving lingering animosity among fans and alumni.
"Things certainly have settled down," said Bob Hope, president of Atlanta-based public relations firm Hope-Beckham
Inc., who led an "Axe-Adams" campaign following Adams' decision. "(But) there was more controversy than I thought
there would be."
Several "high-placed" people in the state asked Hope to lead an organized campaign to petition the regents for
Adams' removal, but the president had enough political strength behind him that the campaign failed, Hope said.
"(Adams) didn't approach the Vince Dooley thing with class," Hope said, adding that Adams' public response to fans'
and graduates' frustrations probably hurt his reputation more than the decision itself. "Michael Adams could be a
fine president and still be petty."
Hope said he knows several wealthy philanthropists who won't donate to the university until Adams leaves, but
others, despite their dislike of Adams, still give to UGA for the sake of the students and their education.
The backlash hasn't ever swayed Adams' conviction about letting Dooley go.
"I certainly wasn't oblivious to fact that not everybody would agree with that decision, but I don't try and hold my
finger to the wind on decisions," Adams said. "I do listen to a lot of people, and I talked to a lot of people about that
(decision) before I made it."
Ending Dooley's contract received more attention than it deserved - "if you take 100 issues, Vince and I probably
agreed on 95 or 96 of them," Adams said.
An age of scandal
The Dooley controversy came during a period when a new set of problems, beginning in 2003, threw Adams under
close scrutiny and drew massive reproach from UGA faculty in 2004.
Leaders of the university's then-official fundraising arm, the University of Georgia Foundation, fell out with Adams
over the Dooley issue and later ordered an audit of Adams' spending habits.
Auditors, and later UGA faculty, criticized Adams' spending of $895,000 on land in Costa Rica and using state funds
to throw a graduation party for his son.
The University of Georgia's academic reputation was stained after investigators found that assistant basketball
coach Jim Harrick Jr. had been giving A's to student athletes who never attended his physical education class, in
which he gave a final exam with questions like "How many points does a 3-point field goal account for?"
The findings led Adams to pull the basketball team out of the NCAA tournament in March 2003, a decision that
devastated fans and players. More than a year later, the NCAA put the team on probation.
Harrick Jr. was suspended and his contract later was not renewed while his father, head basketball coach Jim
Harrick Sr. - who Adams brought to UGA and who, in turn, hired his son with a nepotism waiver Adams endorsed -
resigned under fire.
Two years of state budget cuts, a downsized and overworked faculty and salaries that had fallen far behind other
institutions added more tension to a university community already upset by the audit results, the Harrick scandal and
Adams' response to it all.
Seven out of 10 professors in the Franklin College Arts and Sciences claimed "no confidence" in Adams, according
to a 2004 survey Franklin College faculty senate leaders developed.
While many alumni and Bulldog fans outside of Athens focused their distaste for Adams on his decision over
Dooley's contract, faculty were upset over other issues.
The relationship between many professors and Adams' administration during those years was filled with "tension
and conflict," said classics professor Nancy Felson, who chaired the college's faculty senate at the time. "Not based
on Vince Dooley's non-renewal, but on our reaction to several matters in the (audit) report and on a widespread
sense among Franklin College faculty that the president was not in touch with our mission and our challenges."
Felson understands that Adams and his administration have to deal with the big picture, including budget
constraints and politics, she said.
"(Still), faculty and staff leaders - along with student activists - have to keep the pressure on the administration if
they want to make a difference on crucial issues (including) child care, faculty sabbaticals and salaries, staff wages
and benefits," said Felson, who also chaired the University Council's executive committee for the 2005-06 school
year.
Felson hopes Adams' administration will, in the end, leave a positive legacy when it comes to creating policies that
affect the well-being of students and employees.
Adams' "deepest personal regret" was getting into a confrontational relationship with Franklin College faculty after
thinking he had been working to help them, he said.
But the combination of budget cuts, athletic scandals and the audit created "a perfect storm" that divided Adams
and the faculty, he said.
"Any time I appear to be at cross-purposes with the faculty - that's probably bothered me more than anything since
I've been here," he said. "But I think everybody moved far beyond that and maybe I learned some things and maybe
they did, too."
Sticking around
Adams said last year that he planned to stick around for at least a couple more years until some ongoing projects
are finished or on their way to being finished, such as the proposed UGA-Medical College of Georgia satellite
campus on the Navy Supply Corps School land.
The project has stalled as university system leaders decide how and where to spend more than $2 million in state
funds to expand medical education - funds that Augusta leaders have fought to try and keep for MCG's main
campus.
"I do think we've made great progress with the medical school issue," Adams said. "I think to do what we've done, to
create a MCG-UGA medical initiative, is exactly the way to do it."
University, state and local leaders ought to cooperate rather than fight over the issue, he said.
"I think right now were doing this in the right fashion," Adams said. "What it looks like 10 or 15 years from now, I'm
probably gonna let somebody else worry about."
Even though he's outlived the seven-year average tenure of a university president, Adams said won't give any
thought to advice he would pass on to his successor.
"I'll probably write a letter to the next person, whoever he or she is - for them to ignore," he said with a laugh. "But
I'm not ready to start thinking like that."
OP-ED: Show your school pride
Michael T. Benson, SUU Journal, 10 September 2007
At one point in our nation's history, the University of Chicago had one of the premier football teams in all of
collegiate athletics.
Then the university decided to disband football based on the recommendation of its president, Robert Hutchins, who
made this statement: "Football, fraternities and fun have no place in the university. They were introduced only to
entertain those who shouldn't be in the university."
I would tend to disagree with the venerable Dr. Hutchins.
I believe football has a very prominent place on university campuses and would hope others share this opinion.
I also support fun and fraternities and hope our students, after a week of hard work and studying, enjoyed the
friendship of their classmates at our home opener Saturday.
Southern Utah University has, arguably, the most challenging schedule in all of Division I-AA football this season and
ours is the opportunity to see some of America's great teams come to town. It began this weekend with our first
home game against the University of North Dakota.
For the love of the Thunderbirds-I would urge all students, faculty, staff and the community to support our team.
Having students, all clad in SUU red, will provide an atmosphere second to none.
Please come and support our student athletes and show your school pride.
Go T-Birds!
Michael T. Benson is the president of SUU. He can be reached at benson@suu.edu.